Species Turnover Rates on Islands: Dependence on Census Interval
Abstract
Measurements of species turnover in island bird communities demonstrate two trends with increasing census interval t: (i) Apparent turnover rates T decrease greatly with t, and (ii) the coefficient of variation of T decreases asymptotically to a constant value. These effects are predicted by a statistical model whose parameters are the immigration and extinction probabilities of each species. Available bird censuses at intervals of decades underestimate turnover rates by about an order of magnitude.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- July 1977
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.197.4300.266
- Bibcode:
- 1977Sci...197..266D